Shift change that is helping disaster kids

A SHAKE-UP in night shift working for firefighters will benefit child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A SHAKE-UP in night shift working for firefighters will benefit child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

A SHAKE-UP in night shift working for firefighters will benefit child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

More than 30 beds from Manchester's Moss Side, Wythenshawe, and Withington stations have been donated to a charity which supports a hospice.

The beds are being taken out of station dormitories to be replaced by reclining chairs as brigade chiefs change work routines.

They have been collected for the Chernobyl Children's Project UK. This year is the 20th anniversary of the catastrophe when a reactor caught fire in the Ukrainian forest and showered Europe with radioactive particles.

Fifty people died but it is estimated 4,000 could eventually die from exposure to radiation.

One of the worst affected areas is the neighbouring country of Belarus.

Mike Alleson, of the charity, said: "The beds will be used at a hospice for children that we support in Minsk. There is a lot of abject poverty in Belarus.

"The kids vary in age from very young to teenagers. The affects of the disaster can jump generations."

The rates of thyroid cancer in Belarus have increased by 2,400 per cent since the disaster and there has been a 250 per cent increase in congenital birth deformities.

The charity has started more than a dozen aid programmes for stricken regions. For 10 years it has brought children from Belarus to Britain. Clean air and rest helps to boost their immune system.

Traditionally, firefighters have slept between midnight and 7am if there are no emergency calls.

But county fire officer Barry Dixon wants staff to do training and inspections during the night hours.